Federal Reserve confirms Anonymous banking hack that leaked personal info of thousands

The Federal Reserve has confirmed that it was hacked and that attackers gained access to government contact information, according to The Hill. On Sunday, hacktivist group Anonymous released a file containing what appeared to be public and private phone numbers, addresses, email addresses, and password hashes of some 4,000 members of the banking industry in an ongoing protest against the US Department of Justice’s treatment of Aaron Swartz.

In a statement to The Hill, a Federal Reserve spokesperson says that the agency is “aware that information was obtained by exploiting a temporary vulnerability in a website vendor product. The exposure was fixed shortly after discovery and is no longer an issue,” adding that the attack did not impact the Federal Reserve’s “critical operations.” Speaking with the Huffington Post, a spokesperson also confirmed that contact information was taken, but denied to elaborate further on the compromised data beyond asserting that Anonymous’ claims on Sunday were “overstated.” Anonymous’ Operation Last Resort Twitter account referred to this hack and subsequent data release a “distraction,” hinting that the conglomerate may have more hacks up its sleeve in the coming weeks.